My Response to the Elusive Religion Debate

Katie Johnson
Undergraduate/Psychology & Women's Studies

Jerry: I know you personally and I know that you are a great guy with the best intentions. You are firm in your beliefs and I respect that. I do believe that there is a great possibility God exists, I really do. I also believe that the Bible is truthful. It was not written by God, but was written from God’s words. Okay, so the Bible is infallible. Here’s where I deviate from yours along with many others’ reasoning a bit. Let’s say the Bible is the absolute truth for the sake of this example. Who are the people reading the Bible? People just like the rest of us, not God. Who’s going out and evangelizing to others? People just like the rest of us, not God. A person can devote his or herlife to understanding the Bible and living by it, but the thing is, humans are not perfect. People make mistakes. Humans are fallible. Each and every single person who opens this book has a different interpretation. A group of people can have a similar interpretation, but that doesn’t mean that they are right and anybody else who does not agree is wrong.

Evan: I do not know you personally, but I’m sure what I said to Jerry goes well for you too. While I am sometimes skeptical of organized religion and the stereotype of "Christians", I think it is very important, even essential for people to be respectful about other peoples' beliefs, even when we do not agree. Though some ideas may seem far-fetched, we owe it to other people to discuss things civilly. Debate can be extremely productive, but when it becomes more of an argument between two very different people it gets us nowhere.

This might seem like a ridiculous question, but hasn’t this topic already gotten enough debate? There simply is not one straightforward answer. Spirituality is a very personal thing and it really isn’t our business to focus on another’s spirituality as something we can or should change.